Native of Cheyenne, OK. enjoys being a minority owner of an NBA team known internationally

“I couldn't take my eyes off the arena itself, and looking at the fans,” Dobson said of the crowd of 18,203. “All the way around the arena, I just looked at the excitement.

“I was just reflecting I guess on how we got to there. I'm still just in awe of what Clay (Bennett), Sam (Presti) and the coaching staff have done to assemble this team. I think the nation is recognizing what our fans have recognized; we have an exciting group of positive individuals that are representing us.”

Sports and business

In business, his family's telephone company was started as Paradise Telephone by his grandfather, E.R. Dobson, in 1936. In 1989, Everett Dobson founded Dobson Communications Corp. At the time of its sale to AT&T in 2007, the company was operating in 17 states.

Dobson, a graduate of Cheyenne High School in western Oklahoma, graduated from Southwestern Oklahoma State University in 1981.

He was a four-year golf letterman at SWOSU where he was a three-time All-Oklahoma Intercollegiate Conference selection and two-time All-District Nine honoree. Dobson was a member of the 1980 SWOSU golf team that won the NAIA District Nine championship title and qualified for the NAIA national tourney.

Dobson was inducted into Southwestern's Athletic Hall of Fame in 1996.

In addition to being a minority owner of the Thunder, he is involved in thoroughbred racing. He is a co-owner of the Thoroughbred bay stallion Caleb's Posse, winner of the $1 million Dirt Mile at the 2011 Breeders' Cup. While he's had many enjoyable moments related to sports, Dobson has never been on a ride like this.